Water Quality Legend

Current Status

Grey means water quality information for the beach is too old (more than 7 days old) to be considered current, or that info is unavailable, or unreliable.

Historical Status

When swimming season is over or when a beach's water quality data has not been updated frequently enough (weekly) it goes into historical status. This means that rather than displaying current data it displays the beach's average water quality for that year.

Green means the beach passed water quality tests 95% of the time or more.

Yellow means the beach passed water quality tests 60-95% of the time.

Red means the beach failed water quality tests 40% of the time or more.

Special Status

We may manually set the status for a specific beach if we have concerns about the sampling protocol, if there is an emergency, if monitoring practices don't exist or have recently changed, or other reasons that render this site "special."

Green means the beach has historically excellent or pristine water quality, but there is no current data.

Red means the water at the site has water quality issues or there is an emergency.

Grey means there is no current water quality information, the beach is under construction, there has been an event that has rendered water quality information unreliable or unavailable.

See the beach description for more information regarding their special status.

Squid

Squid Beach, part of West Beach, is located in New Bedford, the number one fishing port in America. Lifeguards are on duty during the summer season from 10am - 5:30pm. The beach is wheelchair accessible and there are restrooms and outdoor showers.

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WATER QUALITY

Passed water quality tests 60-95% of the time

Historical Status

This status is based on the latest sample, taken on . The Swim Guide - Massachusetts updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on at

The New Bedford County Department of Health, and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation collect water quality samples from June through September. Beaches are tested weekly on Wednesday, and the results are posted by Friday. The water is tested for Enterococci to determine water quality in brackish and marine water environments.

Enterococci is a group of bacterial species typically found in human and animal intestines and are therefore present in sewage. Enterococci is also referred to as indicator organisms. Indicator organisms are used to predict the presence of pathogenic, or disease-causing, organisms associated with fecal contamination.

Squid

This status is based on the latest sample, taken on . The Swim Guide - Massachusetts updates the status of this beach as soon as test results become available. These results were posted to Swim Guide on at

For water quality icon legend, click:

CURRENT WEATHER

-1°C

Clear

Squid Beach, part of West Beach, is located in New Bedford, the number one fishing port in America. Lifeguards are on duty during the summer season from 10am - 5:30pm. The beach is wheelchair accessible and there are restrooms and outdoor showers.

The New Bedford County Department of Health, and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation collect water quality samples from June through September. Beaches are tested weekly on Wednesday, and the results are posted by Friday. The water is tested for Enterococci to determine water quality in brackish and marine water environments.

Enterococci is a group of bacterial species typically found in human and animal intestines and are therefore present in sewage. Enterococci is also referred to as indicator organisms. Indicator organisms are used to predict the presence of pathogenic, or disease-causing, organisms associated with fecal contamination.